Indiana University, Hutton Hall Honors College

The Edward L. Hutton Honors College was built to look like it had always been there. It sits across from the Memorial Union at Indiana University, on a corner surrounded by buildings fifty years old and more, and the Collegiate Gothic design set out to match them rather than stand apart.

The limestone for the two-story, 16,000 SF building came from an Indiana quarry near the site, in smooth, carved, and rough finishes. Each piece was cut, then tumbled in a drum roller to weather its face. Single blocks weighing more than a ton form three arches into the gallery, and a four-foot IU emblem is set into one gable. Above it, a graduated Vermont slate roof steps smaller as it climbs, every piece hand set with copper nails, under an all-copper cupola that will darken to green over the decades. Outside, fieldstone walls enclose the brick walk of an English-style garden that carries color through the year.

Inside are administrative and advising offices, classrooms, a library, and lounges for collaborative work-study. The Great Hall anchors it, with floor-to-ceiling windows onto Woodlawn Avenue, built for the receptions and events the college hosts, with powered blackout shades, dimmable lighting, and a full sound system.